


What Makes a Home

by Roses9



Series: Life in the Windy City - One Chicago One Shots [3]
Category: Chicago Med, Chicago PD (TV)
Genre: Angst, Chicago Med - Freeform, Chicago PD - Freeform, F/M, Fluff, Halstead Sister, Rusek Cameo, Upton Cameo, Whump, at the end, domestic abuse, halstead fluff, non-depicted violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-25
Updated: 2020-09-25
Packaged: 2021-03-08 03:07:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,322
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26648755
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Roses9/pseuds/Roses9
Summary: “Her heart was beating at a hundred miles an hour as the bus slowly rolled into the station. It had taken almost 20 hours but she was finally back home. Or well, what she’d once called home. She’d finally reached Chicago. “— — —“Dr. Halstead are you okay?”“Get Dr. Choi, I can’t treat this patient.”— — —“Leah’s in the ED.”  The moment Jay heard those words he dropped the coffee-filled mug he held in his hand.
Relationships: OFC/OMC, Will Halstead/Natalie Manning
Series: Life in the Windy City - One Chicago One Shots [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1920565
Comments: 2
Kudos: 40





	What Makes a Home

**Author's Note:**

> Hullo guys! 
> 
> So another oneshot it up! It took longer than I thought (especially because I just had to edit...), but I’m kinda swamped work load wise at the moment. This is one that’s been at the bottom of my works for a while, and i want to get your guys’ feedback. I have also considered writing a sequel to it so let me know if you are interested! 
> 
> Anyways as always constructive criticism is more than welcome, but I reserve the right to delete comments. Also, any prompts you have can be sent through private message or to my email roses9girl@gmail.com. 
> 
> Have a great day and i hope you enjoy! 
> 
> Rose
> 
> In terms of series timeline this is beginning of season 4 Chicago Med and Season 6 of PD.

Her heart was beating at a hundred miles an hour as the bus slowly rolled into the station. It had taken almost 20 hours but she was finally back home. Or well, what she’d once called home. She’d finally reached Chicago. Her eyes, filled to the brim with fear, scanned the passengers of the bus once more. She knew subconsciously that they couldn’t be here. That she’d already checked the passenger list before the bus even took off from Miami, but she couldn’t fake the feeling that she was being followed. Maybe that’s what happened when you ran from something; you had to learn to live with the fear of being caught.  
She slung her bag over her left shoulder and hissed as she felt a stab of pain, she’d forgotten how much the bruised limb ached. Slowly pulling up her hoodie to hide the black eye and busted lip she was sporting, the girl finally made her way off the bus.

“I was about to drag you off myself. C’mon girly, hurry up! I ain’t got all the time in the world.” The woman jumped at the driver’s harsh words, not expecting the comment.

“Sorry sir.” She whispered, her voice slightly trembling, he reminded her of him. 

“Just get off will you already!” Leah ran down the rest of the steps.

The harsh air of the Chicago winter cut at Leah’s face, and not for the first time, she wished she’d remembered to grab her coat. But one could only pack so much when running for their life. Digging her hands into the pockets of the hoodie she was wearing she slowly took off walking without an endpoint in mind. She’d left in such a hurry, she’d been so scared, that her only thoughts were to go home. But Chicago had stopped being her home a long time ago ever since her family fell apart.  
In one month she lost her mother, and her Dad stopped being able to look at her from their resemblance. Her oldest brother fled to New York, and her other brother fled overseas.  
And Leah? Well, she lost herself in the pain. She let herself be taken by the currents of bad influences and drugs. Of parties and bad relationships. All she wanted was to feel numb, so numb that all the pain she felt over losing both her parents, of her brother leaving, of her other brother fighting for his life overseas, all that pain wasn’t there. So she lived in a drunk and high stupor from the age of 19 to 23, and then she’d fucked up. She’d fucked up really bad, all the debt and bad decisions caught up with her and she would have been dead had it not been for him.  
He took her in and kept her safe. He told her he loved her, that he would protect her, take care of her, and Leah, desperate for any sort of family, gave in. She’d gotten sober after he insisted. She’d given him everything in a desperate attempt to be loved. But the mirage of the perfect boyfriend chipped away as the months passed, and his smiles turned cruel. His hand no longer caressed her but slapped her more than anything else. The nights of passion turned into nightmares, and although she feared him, he provided protection. He swore that only he could keep her safe, that no one else loved her. Cared for her. Her brothers hadn’t even contacted her in the last year and a half. And even though she hadn’t responded when they did, it made her feel loved when they called, emailed, and texted. Now she had no one, she’d pushed everyone away, so she stayed with him.  
The wind knocked against the windows of the buildings Leah walked by, and the shadows felt threatening in the dark night. A scream sounded in the distance and Leah’s arms automatically went to her stomach. Straining her shoulder but desperate to protect the small life within her.  
She found out three months ago. She was now beginning her second trimester. At first when she’d told him, he’d been happy. She’d been happy, the beatings were less severe, hesmiled more. He was slowly turning back into the man she’d fallen for, and then she found out. She found out that the only reason he’d taken care of her, been kind to her, was because he wanted to sell her baby.

Her baby.

She wasn’t supposed to find out or even be home. Usually, she wasn’t home early, not wanting to be in the apartment longer than necessary. Recently however, he’d been so kind to her that she wanted to cook him dinner. She wanted to do something nice for him. Naive beyond belief, she’d hoped things were going back to before.  
When she reached the front door though, she overheard the conversation through the open window, “You’ll have the baby as soon as she gives birth. Don’t you worry she won’t know anything. We’ll just tell her it was stillborn.” The air was knocked out of her. She felt betrayed, angry beyond belief, and most of all: scared. Scared of the monster she’d thought was capable of love.  
She walked into the apartment only after the couple who were going to steal her baby left. She’d let the dinner burn, she didn’t even look in his direction. She angered him, and he retaliated.  
But he didn’t hurt the merchandise. He needed the baby so he wouldn’t hurt it. The moment he’d gone to bed in a drunken stupor, Leah silently packed her bags. She stole the stash of money he kept under the sink, and she wrote him a quick note that she left on the kitchen counter.

Fuck you, you prick! - Leah

It had taken a lot of self restraint not to write anything else.  
Then she’d just ran. She ran to the bus station, ran to up the steps of the bus. She had to get far away. That was her only thought, to get far away. She’d wanted to be safe, so she came home. Home to Chicago.  
Leah had been so lost in her thoughts she didn’t hear the police car roll up to her. The twenty four year old automatically tensed up. Maybe he’d found her. Maybe he’d told the police a fake story, made her sound crazy. It's not like he hadn’t done it before. No! She shook her head, that was impossible. He was in Miami, and she was in Chicago. He couldn’t get to her anymore.

“Ma’am, are you okay?” The policeman lightly shook her shoulder and Leah cried out in pain. The hoodie falling off and showing her beat up face. The policeman looked at his partner, a brunette woman, with kind brown eyes, and tan skin.

“Hey ma’am what’s your name.” The police lady asked with a calming tone, “Who did this to you? Are you okay?” Leah didn’t say anything. She was quivering in fear, all her instincts told her to run, but she was so tired she didn’t have energy to walk even five more steps. She hadn’t slept in twenty seven hours, not since hearing the conversation.

“I’m calling in an ambo. She has to get checked out.” The man said, grabbing his radio. 

“No! Please don’t.” Leah whispered. The woman looked at her, a worried look on her face.

“Ma’am, you really should get that shoulder checked out. And it's far too cold for you to be wearing only that hoodie.” The cop lady opened the back seat to the car and pulled out a coat, “Here, use this for now.” Leah didn’t move aside from shivering as the policewoman placed the coat around her shoulders. When she felt her baby bump the woman let out a gasp. “Johnson she’s pregnant.”

The man’s eyes widened, “That’s it, I’m calling for an ambulance.”

“No please don’t! Please! No ambulance, he’ll find me! I have to be a ghost! He can’t find me!” Leah’s breaths became shorter and shorter as her panic amplified. Her chest felt as if someone was stepping on it, and unwilling tears streamed down her face. 

“Ma’am you have to calm down!” The lady’s arms started to reach for her just as her world turned fuzzy. As the world turned black, Leah heard the man, Officer Johnson, call for an ambulance.  
— ——  
Gaffney Medical Center’s Emergency Department had been swamped from the moment the day had started. With an influx of flu patients, and a multiple vehicle accident the doctors and nurses had barely been given a break, so it really wasn’t Will’s fault that he let out a small groan when Maggie poked her head into the Doctor’s lounge,

“Dr. Halstead, Dr. Manning, incoming, you’re in treatment four.” The two doctors untangled themselves from the couch, and dropped their steaming coffees on the table.

“So much for a five minute break,” Natalie sighed, and they both exited the lounge back into the warlike chaos that was the ED. As the doors opened and the paramedics rushed in, both doctors ran to evaluate their patient.  
The moment Will saw the woman he came to an abrupt start. While she had a black eye, and a busted lip, there was no denying who that was. She no longer wore her hair in two pigtails, and she no longer had fake tattoo’s lining her arms, or freckles near her nose, but there was no way he wouldn’t have recognized her. The redhead’s eyes started to burn with tears, and his throat closed up slightly.

“-she also seems to be about four months pregnant.” The paramedic finished off, Will’s head snapped upwards.

“Pregnant?!” Will exclaimed his eyes snapping at the young woman’s stomach. The paramedics looked at him weirdly, and Natalie placed her hand on his shoulder.

“Dr. Halstead are you okay?” The concern in her voice was palpable as her fiancé stared at the woman on the gurney, his skin the same color as snow.  
Will’s voice trembled slightly as he responded, “Get Dr. Choi, I can’t treat this patient.”

“Will? What’s going on?” Natalie asked again as Maggie paged Ethan, a confused expression painted on her face.

“Nat, that’s my sister.”  
— ——

Jay Halstead wasn’t having the best of days; the case they’d been working on had gone cold, and as much as he told himself otherwise, he really hated Chicago winters. Not only that, but a cold case meant a ton of paperwork. Paperwork that Jay absolutely hated to complete. So the moment her saw his brother’s face light up the screen of his phone Jay really wasn’t in the mood to deal with another one of his freak outs over Natalie.

“Will, now is really not the time. I’ve had a shit day, and I just want to get this paperwork over with.” Okay so he might have been a bit cranky...

“Leah’s in the ED.” Will’s voice was laced with disbelief and fear. The moment Jay heard those words he dropped the coffee-filled mug he held in his hand. The shattering of the ceramics caught the attention of the team who looked at him with worried expressions. Even Voight came out of his office with an air of concern.

“Will, what do you mean Leah is in the ED? Leah- Leah-“ his voice cracked under the emotion, the overwhelmingness that his little sister, whom he hadn’t seen since he’d left for Afghanistan, was in Chicago. “I’ll-I’m on my way.” He hung up, and quickly grabbed his coat and keys.  
“Halstead where are you going?” Voight asked, but Jay didn’t even look at his boss too preoccupied trying to find his keys.

“Jay.” Upton tried, “Jay! What is going on?!” Out of the corner of his eye he saw the shiny car keys and grabbed them in a flash.

“My sister is in the ED.” And with that he turned around and raced out the door, leaving a shocked intelligence behind.

“I’m so sorry did he just say sister?” Adam asked, disbelief lacing his voice, “He has a sister?!”  
— ——

Jay raced into the ED only to run into his disheveled older brother.  
“Where is she?!” He cried, wanting to see her with his own eyes, “Is she okay? Will! Where is Leah?!” Will snapped out of whatever trance he had been under, and looked at Jay as if he’d just realized his brother was there.

“Dr. Choi and Dr. Manning are with her. But Jay, she’s pregnant. She’s pregnant, and someone beat her up.” Jay’s blood ran cold at his brother’s words, his little sister whom he had sworn all those years ago to protect had not only fallen off the face of earth until now, but gotten hurt in the process. However, before he could say anything else, the doctors stepped out of the treatment room.

Both brothers looked at them expectantly, bracing themselves for the worst.  
“First of all, she is stable.” Upon hearing this, Jay made for the door only to be held off by Dr. Choi, “Jay, wait a second. She is stable and awake, but exhausted. Her shoulder was dislocated, and her face was quite beat up”, the ex-marine explained

“The baby is fine though, and whoever beat her up didn’t hit her stomach at all. So she’s either very lucky...” Dr. Manning continued.

“Or whoever did this knew about the baby.” Jay said, fury dripping from his voice, Will was shaking with contained anger.

“Can we see her?” The oldest Halstead asked, all it took was the doctors’ nods for them to rush into the room.

Leah was wearing a hospital gown that was covered mostly by the blanket that came up to her chest. Her skin was as pale as the sheets, and the bruises that framed her face made the brothers quake in anger. Her bottom lip was red and swollen from where it’d been bleeding, and there was a gash on one of her cheeks.

“She looks so much skinnier...” Jay whispered reaching out to touch her hand, as if making sure that this wasn’t a dream.

“Jay she is pregnant she can’t be skinnier.” Will stated with a matter of fact tone.

“Look at her cheeks though, they are so hollow. And she has bags under her eyes, she never had bags under her eyes.”

“I know...” Will whispered back, going around the bed to hold his sister’s other hand,

“She is in the room,” Leah quipped up, and the brothers had to stifle a laugh.

“Where have you been Lee?” Jay asked. 

“No one’s called me Lee in a long time.” Her voice was hoarse, and her eyes were still closed. Had the two brothers not been mostly silent they probably wouldn’t have heard it.

“Leah?” Jay asked with a hopeful tone, “C’mon Lee open those beautiful eyes.”

Leah closed her eyes tightly, ignoring the pain that action inflicted behind her eyes. She knew she was dreaming, or at least that is what she told herself. She must have hit her head when she passed out. No one but her brothers called her Lee, yet her brothers wanted nothing to do with her.  
She could almost feel them holding her hands, and she squeezed her eyes firmly because she just couldn’t open her eyes again. If she did, they’d be gone. Reality was cruel, and her brothers didn’t live in Chicago anymore. They didn’t care anymore.

“Leah please open your eyes, just wake up for a bit.” She could hear Jay’s pleas, his stubborn demands she used to love. If only they were real.

“C’mon Lee, open those beautiful eyes,” that was Will, she could even imagine him tapping her cheek for her to wake up like her did all those years ago. He was the biggest mother hen that existed but she would trade it for the world.  
She could hear the beeping of the machine, and the sounds of the hospital around her. She knew she couldn’t stay in the fantasy for much longer, but how she wished she could. Swallowing as much as her sore throat would allow, Leah slowly peeled her eyes open.  
The sight that greeted her was one that she hadn’t expected in a million years, Jay was on her left looking at her with those blue eyes that were so much like hers. Will sat on her right, clad in hospital scrubs, and with the same expression he’d always worn when she got sick, no matter their age.

“Wi-Will?” She couldn’t believe it, this had to be a dream, “Jay?” Her eyes were filling with tears, and so were her brothers’ eyes, “Why are you here? You- you left. You left Chicago, you left me.”

“I’m sorry Lee, I’m so sorry,” Tears were streaming down the three sibilings’ faces as the two brothers lunged at the sister trapping her in a hug full of tears and apologies.

“I- You- He- You still love me?” At her words both men pulled back, and looked at her straight in the eyes.

“Lee we will always love you. We’ve never stopped loving you.” Jay started,

“I am so sorry that you felt like you didn't matter to us. We shouldn’t have left you. I am so sorry.” Will finished, clutching her hand so hard Leah feared for its safety. Jay nodded along with everything Will said and Leah felt a confusion unlike she’d every felt before.

“But you can’t love me. I’m a screw up... he told me you didn’t.. he said you never called. You never emailed... he- he-“ At her brother’s confused expressions it all clicked,

“Lee we called every month.” Will said. Leah choked back a sobb.

“We emailed every week last year.” Jay continued.

Leah shook her head,“But he said- he said you didn’t love me. He said I couldn’t come back, that there was no one to come back to- He- He said only he could protect me!” Leah started to hyperventilate once more, and panic seeped into her body. A nurse ran into the room, Dr. Choi right behind her,

“Give her a relaxant, she has to calm down, she’ll aggravate the baby too much if she doesn’t.” The nurse nodded, and inserted the sedative into the IV while both brothers could only stare at their sister.  
“We’ll be her when you wake up Lee.” Will said softly. However, suddenly Jay’s eyes turned dark, really dark, as she came to realize who this mysterious he must be.

“Wait! Leah! Who is he? I need his name, Leah. I need you to tell me who did this to you.” Leah shook as she looked at her brother, he’d kill Jay and Will if he found them.

“No! I- He-“ Leah stuttered in panic. Will took her hand once more, and gave it a small squeeze.

“Lee, we can take care of him. Jay can make it so he never hurts you again, but we need his name.” Her eldest brother's eyes were cloudy with tears, and Leah couldn’t bear to see him cry again. She couldn’t cause him any more pain. She didn’t deserve his sympathy.

“Jack Langshield- He- His name is Jack Langshield.” The moment she said his name, it was like she no longer carried the fear of being caught on her shoulders. Like she was no longer running. She may have been in an Emergency Department, and she may not be in the best of shape, but she was home. Sure they had a lot to get through, and she had a lot to explain. But for just a few seconds, she was home. Safe in the embrace of her brothers.

“We’ll be here when you wake up Lee. We’ll be sitting right here.” 

“You’re home sis, you can relax now. You’re safe.” Jay whispered, and only then did Leah give in to the blissful sleep that was calling to her.


End file.
